Top Ten Coming Disasters: Romney's America 2016

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment

05 November 12

hat will the United States look like in 2016 if Mitt Romney wins? While predicting the future is of course impossible, actually my experience is that if you play out known possible scenarios in your mind, you can often get a fair idea of the likely course of events.

Romney will abolish the Affordable Healthcare Act or “Obamacare,” throwing tens of millions of Americans back out of health insurance programs and leaving them, as he suggests, to the mercies of emergency room treatment. Emergency room treatment is much more expensive for taxpayers than would be the ACA, and having 30 or 40 million people dependent on it is highly undesirable. It cannot provide, e.g., pregnant women with prenatal care, which in turn is correlated with better health for mother and child. And, there simply are not enough ER doctors and nurses to care for that many people. With ACA, we have a chance to forestall the current 26,000 deaths a year resulting from people lacking health insurance. If ACA is repealed, they’ll still die, and over the four years of a Romney administration there will be 104,000 extra needless deaths among the uninsured.

Romney-Ryan want to further lower taxes on the rich. As it is, income inequality has been growing enormously in the United States. the top 1% have captured 93% of the country’s increased income during the recovery from the Depression of 2008-2009. Romney’s policies will accelerate the gap between the rich and the poor. With Citizens United and other Supreme Court rulings allowing the wealthy and corporations to buy elections, the growing concentration of wealth and power is deeply undermining American democracy. Even now, 400 billionaires have almost as much wealth as the bottom half of the country. That inequality will get worse under a President Romney.

Romney-Ryan are determined to outlaw abortion. Ryan does not even make any exceptions for it. Romney does, but he still wants to deprive women of choice and of the right to control their bodies. There is no scientific argument for the personhood of a cytoblast, and Bishop Willard Romney simply wants to impose religious doctrines on all women in contravention of the First Amendment of the US constitution. Romney will likely have the opportunity to appoint one or two Supreme Court justices, and will attempt to ensure that they are anti-choice.

Romney supports Republican/ Koch Brothers attempts at voter suppression. By requiring voter i.d. of people who do not drive, he would impose what is essentially a poll tax on urban voters, such that they’d have to lose a day of work and pay money for a state i.d. Voter suppression is a way of decreasing the youth, African-American and Latino vote and so unfairly weighting the votes of white drivers. These voter suppression measures pose the risk of further degrading American democracy and establishing what is increasingly a tyranny of the white minority.

Romney is in the back pocket of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who is spending $100 million to elect him. Adelson worships far rightwing Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu the way the wayward Children of Israel used to worship the Golden Calf. Romney says he will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and it seems clear he will back to the hilt the creeping illegal Israeli annexation of the Palestinian West Bank.

Romney-Ryan will end Medicare as we know it, turning it into a privatized voucher system that will screw over the younger Baby Boomers, and then Gen X and the Milennials and the Nexters.

So these are the contours of the America of 2016 under Romney. Unemployment could remain stubbornly high under austerity policies, and the budget deficit could grow, causing the US credit rating to be further cut and increasing the cost of borrowing money. The country could be at war in Iran and Syria (a further drain on the national budget). Israel would be turned decisively into an Apartheid state with the end of any possibility of a two-state solution, promoting further trouble for the US with the Muslim world. Tens of millions of Americans will be without health insurance. Social Security benefits could be taxed, and Medicare could be cut (voucherized), costing individuals thousands of dollars a year. Women’s rights will be chipped away at. Climate change will accelerate and dirty sources of energy like coal will be encouraged. Hot, dry summers could produce dust bowls in some parts of the US, while hurricanes will increase in their ferocity. And, public trust in democracy will be deeply undermined, since the president will repeatedly be caught in lies, and because the 47% will be effectively disenfranchised.

The US will be hotter, with more violent weather, will be poorer save for the 400 billionaires, will be a virtual nation of hobos, and will end up a brutal plutocracy where those too poor to afford private insurance will simply die in the tens of thousands each year, and where elections and legislation are openly bought and paid for.

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This will kill America for sure, and I believe that that is Romney's plan anyway. He does not care about America; he cares only about the power and the money and the people who are just like him.

Pray for a landslide by President Obama or this election will get stolen, and we will be in the deepest pit of hell ever.

Who would have believed there could be anyone or anything worse than George W. Bush and his Cheney-driven policies.

The singular worse thing that Obama did after getting elected was to NOT investigate the Bush/Cheney regime and squelch the Rove machine! If he had, we might not be in this quagmire looming in a potential Romney regime.

The truth is that you cannot see the truth of it. Like many Americans you would rather shoot yourself in the foot than admit it. I said it before I say it again. This country any country cannot be run like a business. When you loose money in a business you downsize, you lay off. What is Romney going to do Sell a couple of states to China to pay the debt G.W. Bush ran up with them to put 2 wars on plastic? It going on TV and going to say "Well folks we have to eliminate 3,000,000 citizens. your names will be drawn (no doubt Democratic membership lists) and you'll have 48 hours to leave the country. Also Romney's business experience is that of taking over companies ruining them then sell them off to foreign countries and thus not creating jobs in America but creating unemployment, more on welfare and food stamps, more in poverty and more burden on the real taxpayers. Wake up man smell their BS.

NanFan, not to worry... If Obama was unable to kill America, and he clearly tried, no one can. Having someone with some experience above being a community organizer will do America well. Romney/Ryan!

"Experience"...Romney has experience but not the experience that will do anything for the country OR for YOU. You people that think someone with a shitload of money is going to do anything to lift you up are delusional. His experience is that of taking advantage of someone else's disaster and mixing up a great big lemonade for HIMSELF...leaving YOU to die of thirst.

unless rigged elections / vote fraud results in gop control of house and senate, the dems are going to have to cooperate to make all these things happen... have they done it before? you betcha under reagan and bush, the dems were aiding and abetting the destruction of america...

unless rigged elections / vote fraud results in gop control of house and senate, the dems are going to have to cooperate to make all these things happen... have they done it before? you betcha under reagan and bush, the dems were aiding and abetting the destruction of america...

Just as you "aid and abet" by taking your "nothing can be done about it" position. If you think the Dems are just like the Repubs, you are the worst kind of aider and abetter -- the one who COULD have done something, and selfishly chose NOT to do so. President Romney will thank you for your lack of caring . . .

unless rigged elections / vote fraud results in gop control of house and senate, the dems are going to have to cooperate to make all these things happen... have they done it before? you betcha under reagan and bush, the dems were aiding and abetting the destruction of america...

Just as you "aid and abet" by taking your "nothing can be done about it" position. If you think the Dems are just like the Repubs, you are the worst kind of aider and abetter -- the one who COULD have done something, and selfishly chose NOT to do so. President Romney will thank you for your lack of caring . . .

Many people have been "trying". It takes masses of Americans to wake up and back these efforts, to turn from the distractions (sports, video games, texting, TV, etc.) and to focus and look stupid and unpopular for a while. Obviously, Americans have not the history of pain and need, most don't know anyone personally who has died in our corporate wars; we're cowardly warriors that push buttons and watch explosions from afar and assume that we got the bad guy with pin point accuracy as a city block is vaporized. Americans are great only in their own minds and we have the government that we deserve, no matter which of the two choices we choose. One is just willing to let a little more seep through his clenched fist. Watch: http://billmoyers.com/episode/on-winner-take-all-politics/#.UJliBU3nDm8.facebook

Romney will definitely lead us into the coming war; but I not sure that Obama wouldn't do the same thing. European papers are reporting that the Admiral that was just fired, was fired because he had spoken to other military leaders about the trying to stop an invasion of Iran. I think that no matter who wins tomorrow, the dual citizenship holders at the top of our government are determined to sacrifice more American lives for Israel's security.

Romney will also severely attack, if not eliminate, welfare to single mothers. His church is real big on family values, and if you listen some of his statements, he has stated that we must attack the single parent problem in this country. My guess is that existing support would be trimmed, but funding for new births will be hard to come by, if not impossible. This will impact blacks the hardest, and I think that the republicans have given up on doing anything for them since they vote 98% democratic. Troubling times are ahead.

So Tom, from your post it would seem that being a single mother is preferable to every other option. Also, why should I as an employed person be required to supplement her income because she can't? Just asking.

Who would be best to take care of an infant born to a mother who's financially distressed? With a child, she can't work without childcare. There's little money for food, and almost certainly no reliable means of transport, even if there's a job somewhere.Believe me, I know a few people in this situation. The response CAN NOT be: "she should have..." It doesn't work like that either.

Also, why should I as an employed person be required to supplement her income because she can't? Just asking.

Because you -from your attitude at least- appear to be a mean-spirited reactionary who can't see beyond your own nose end.You and your ilk refuse to recognize that progressive and provenly much happier, "Civilized" countries have embraced many social safety nets -taking the burden of having to pay for private, expensive and inadequate health care from small business. These include programs like Well-Baby (weekly nurse visits) for ALL children to check their nutrition and general health.Even you must know that the USA is between 39th and 42nd in infant mortality and other generally almost universally recognized (except in the "Fragmented States") life-quality and well-being indicators and by extension the quality of public education, which is disgraceful considering the power, wealth, latent talent and work ethic lying dormant here but suppressed by the ruling few that refuses to distribute any of even their bail-out funds to the common good.The smugness of your statement as being "an employed person" does not ensure that you'll remain such, especially if Twit gets his way -unless you are in one of the few non-productive growth industries like "Medical Billing", a.k.a., "How to deny claims".Twit represents Medievalism and "Back to the Future" in it's most poisonous manifestation. Like that do ya?

@chirostv: Well, you're already supporting the wealth-I would even say some of it unearned-of corporate parasites and their political allies, especially the GOP. Your taxes go to an over-bloated military budget which goes way beyond self-defense. A foreign policy proven to be ultranationalist. So, you want to give to those with no need to as opposed to those who need? You definately sound like a Romney supporter, where its not people that matter but profits.

Regardless of who wins, it is wisest to plant a survival garden. Between GMO and pesticide tainted food, unpredictable weather, natural disasters, and an unstable economy, there is no reason to assume that food, in good quality or quantity, will be readily at hand. The urban farm movement is growing, and with it, hopefully more folks without their own patch of land will soon be able to eat better.

Obama also believes in austerity and has not said he will not cut Social Security or Medicare. He uses drones to kill with no concern for human rights or international law. etc. I'm not saying who to vote for just pleading for intellectual honesty.I find it impossible to believe that if McCsin had done the exact same Republican things that Obama did that there would not have been more mobilization against these right-wing policies pursued by Obama.

Israel is already an apartheid state. It strains the imagination that it is still commonly referred to as "the only democracy in the region." What kind of democracy gives different rights to different people based on their religion and ethnicity?

I watched the "Bush 9/11 Interview" on NatGeo Sun evening. More than 10 years later, Dubya talks about 9/11 as if he's reciting presidential dialogue on a episode of "24"; during this supposedly "candid" presentation, he made a succession of astoundingly contradictory, fatuous, wrong-headed statements that made little or no sense except as a comic-book rendition of "Commander-in-Chief" platitudes about the event.

Romney is a creepy replicant of Bush in style and utter lack of substance. Neither man seems capable of expressing genuine human emotion nor conveying credibility or authenticity; their shared diction, elocution, "security" vocabulary and rigid body language sound and feel programmed by some Disney tech geek, not the organic result of diverse life experience, clear vision or personal challenges overcome. I'm still, as the Brits say, gobsmacked by Romney nor his five sons never having served in the U.S. military, despite his jingoistic support for the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I consider that void indefensible and reprehensible for a presidential candidate who's a super (chicken) hawk on foreign policy. It's Dick Cheney Redux, a potential Commander-in-Chief with zero instincts, let alone experience in that role, and the hysterical bluster of the Neocons cattle-prodding him into the use of force for its own sake.

In 24 hours, I hope to be sipping some Kahlua and milk on ice with a big smile on my face, as Obama kicks ass.

I agree with you but I am more cynical. You also noticed that none of his sons have served in the armed forces - smacks of: lets reduce the population and make the poor and middle class young men cannon fodder, while enriching the MIC and lining our pockets. Scary!

I'm unconfortable with the use of: if elected he "will".... It should be the more tenuous: if elected, he "would".... Sounds too much like a scarey self-fulfilling prophecy this day before the election. That said, maybe it will take extreme provocation to revitalize dissent on the left. Maybe people have to have everything taken away (or most everything) before they are willing to stand up and speak out and demand justice.

Don't forget to add expanding drone strikes, drones soon to be flying over the U.S. and having already been used, increased surveillance, interference in the governments of other countries and stirring citizens into revolutions, MidwestTom. Also, militarization of police forces and brutality against citizens.

U.S. citizens have turned their attention to U.S. problems only, which is natural, but which blinds them to other issues outside their borders that will also affect them. goodsensecynic commenting below this does mention world issues that are highly pertinent, as well.

OWS got justice. The thugs came an pepper sprayed them and hauled them away. American justice. I have a feeling that the OWS movement was only a preview of what may come to pass under the wrong domestic policies (many are still in place).OWS did achieve things, but I was certainly sad to see the effort reduced. It was highly educational and inspirational - and it did some good!

If you don't care about the decline and fall of the American middle class, the cementing of the plutocrats in power for generations to come, the rapid degradation of the environment and further droughts and superstorms across your country, the dismantling of your already weak social safety net, the rapid decline in education, the promotion of more foreign wars and ... so on,

If you don't care about the decline and fall of the American middle class, the cementing of the plutocrats in power for generations to come, the rapid degradation of the environment and further droughts and superstorms across your country, the dismantling of your already weak social safety net, the rapid decline in education, the promotion of more foreign wars and ... so on,

What you people do affects us all, and only you can prevent a Romney victory. Please help us ... the members of your species who, by accident of birth, cannot vote in your election.

Thank you so much for your excellent and global perspective. -I've been posting something similar on RSN for a while now; a stone cast here causes ripples all over the world.So much power to be harnessed for good or abused for gain.Twit's would be a stinking, polluted Tsunami of planetary destruction on so many fronts.It's a shared and precious "Goldilocks Zone" globe we inhabit and "Crawling coop'd to live and die".

Cole's assumption that austerity policies will occur will certainly be the fabric of a Romney Admin. If none of the other Cole "Disasters" occurs this one is plenty to cause enough damage for decades. Civil servants, teachers, and other public employees will be laid off, pensions will be reduced or even eliminated, and future hopes and dreams of generations will be destroyed. Of course the rich(who do not need public services)will continue to thrive as their taxes will remain low and loopholes remain intact.

And the rest of us? For those of us who are aware of the coming Oligarchy-sadness and regret of what could have been will drain our spirit. But there will remain many who will not notice nor care-(the under-educated poor and the right wing white working class.) If we could turn their apathy into enlightened rage-perhaps a change could come. But it may be too late.

Well done! A concise list of issues which might be "tipped" by the whim of position-of-the-day Romney. And this is truly a who's who guide to the players in this chess/acquisition/manipulation game.

Aside from women's equality in terms of choice and healthcare, and the 80% of the population being strung along in the belief (or disbelief) that a Ryan-Romney-Rove-Rand worldview is "splendid"....

Social 'safety nets' would be declared 'wasteful' in order to give the 20% "certainty" of continued phenomenal wealth. Planned Parenthood: gone. New Supreme Court: teflon-coated if Mitt appoints. Abortion no, polygamy... maybe.

There is so much spin and re-directing of attention (the art of illusion) that it's almost distasteful to try to focus in on the actual 'choice' and issues before us. It is MOST crucial, imm, to avoid the worst-possible W-on-steroids scenario, which is Romney.

Don't take my word, listen to GOP and Tea-Party heroes as they assess the 'character', judgment, and consistency of "Mitt the Flip":

http://bit.ly/RA39TN

Vote for WE THE PEOPLE representation. If it's about voting *against*... vote against nonstop lying and vote manipulation. Against propaganda. Corruption. Status quo of comfy do-nothing for the people, Congress.

Vote out those who do not understand what "people" means. Vote out those who blame the 80% or genuflect before the Koch/Rove/Adelson money for the Plutocracy.

Obviously the Republicans don't want all the people who will be affected by this election to have a vote, because they haven't had a chance to brainwash the rest of the world, who would vote overwhelmingly for Obama. What's amazing is that anyone in America (except for a few billionaires) would want to vote for Romney. I guess advertising really does work.

No doubt about it. Romney will finish the job that George W Bush started, if he gets in. I pray that he won't. Today's right wing could be the worst enemy America ever had. Bush proved that, why should we have to learn that lesson again so soon?

The republican congress and court will stonewall every legitimate and important piece of legislation. They know that they can tread water for another four years, making the democrat administration look bad and ineffective to address the issues.

Basically, you are screwed, whoever wins. Backing Romney or Obama, is just about which version of slow death America wants - Potassium Cyanide or a pipe up the exhaust into a locked car........god help us!

If Romney/Ryan wins, every indication cited by Mr. Cole's analysis will become reality.

But what is far worse is the indication Mr. Cole dare not confront: how the subjugation of women and minorities will be defined as essential to "homeland security" -- and how the Department of Homeland Security will then complete its transformation into the new SS/Reichssicherheitshauptamt, employing its Gestapo powers to stamp out what few embers of U.S. liberty remain.

In which context note how the Republicans are already defying the Constitution to methodically suppress urban and minority votes -- not just the tactic by which they intend to win the election, but an obvious rehearsal for the far more brutal suppressions they envision.

I fear the worst. Indeed I am reminded of what Winston Churchill said on the eve of the Battle of Britain: "only a miracle can save us now." That miracle was the epic heroism of the Royal Air Force. But unlike our British cousins in 1940, we progressives in 2012 are utterly alone.

If you have not yet voted for Obama, do so now as if your life depends upon it – for in bitter truth it does.

I agree with all Juan Cole has to say and I don't think he told the whole of it. I fear for our country and at 80 years I won't have as long to live in a Romney world as my sons. I've suggested they explore other countries they could move to if Romney wins. If I were younger I'd join them.

I no longer love Obama but I fear a Romney government.

VOTE OBAMA

A minor error in Juan Cole's article. Social Security is already taxed and has been taxed for years.

We are at a Weimar moment. Romney is a sock puppet for the modern Krupps-types. If he wins, we can expect class war within a decade, world war within two decades, and smart money would move into firearms and ammunition on next Wednesday.

Almost everyone in the political class knows industrial culture is in trouble. Some pay lip service to the coming calamity. Some pretend it'll be smooth sailing if we can just get a free market rubber stamp ideologue in the White House. One thing they can all agree on is if the 1% wants to stay on the top of the heap, they must keep a boot firmly on the necks of the 99%. Government, for all its faults, might be one of the few things in their way. The greed of the 1% is as relentless as the tides. They've been eroding the New Deal and the Great Society since day one. Even the Democrats have played along with them. If Romney wins, watch the volume go up to 11.

Juan you need to reevaluate your thinking. Both Romney and Obama have pledged support for apartheid, murder, stealing, and war. The Ashkenazim mafia still control congress, monetary and fiscal policy with no change in sight. Recently Obama signed the National Defense Authoriztion Act making this country a military state and the habeas corpus permanently gone. It doesn't matter who is elected, this country will continue as anti-human rights and its economy is at the whims of the Ashkenazim mafia.

The RR team scare the heck out of me. Their platform is taken from a former world leader. Let's see if you can guess who...

1. from a devout christian home and attended strict christian schools and wanted to be a christian church leader2. had to become a soldier but called himself "a soldier of Christ" and went about converting older soldiers 3. later on as he rose in rank he ran for political office. His powerful speeches were more like an evangelical christian preacher sermon. They were filled with biblical references. He promised the people that he would turn the country into a "christian nation where every knee would bed and head bow at the return of christ" 4. Once elected he did the following: abolished unions 5. abolished abortions telling women that if they sought an abortion he would put them in jail until the baby was born and he did not care if the mother's health was in crisis; 6. made an act that all schools had to teach a daily christian bible class (as well as all soldiers had to be chrstian or convert)7. met with the Pope 3 times and was given the authority, by the Pope, to appoint the Bishops to his countrybut wait there is much, much more...Who was that beloved leader who claimed he was doing the "Lord's work"? Sounds a lot like the Republican party. But, it was Hitler.

The only positive thing would be thatRomney would have driven the American people into a corner with no chanceof escaping, except starting a peacefulrevolution in order to totally change the American mindset.

If Obama wins it will be the same asusual, deedlelido - deedlelida, andno revolution, postponing disasterjust a little bit.

I don't get the thrust of your comment. Reagan pulled the solar panels off the white house roof. Climate change was known back then. Al gore was closely associated with it when the Supremes stole the presidency from him.Do you mean most of us are going to float away, die in fire or perish in a drought and this will make the ones who are left turn America into a paradise on earth?

I do believe in voting for the lesser of two evils, but make no mistake: Obama owns the NDAA military detention act; he owns the drone strikes; and his justice department will decide not to act against the LIBOR fixing because it would involve the indictment of his Treasury Secretary, who was head of the Fed when it happened.

I will be on the streets in protest regardless of how this day turns out.

The GOP:1. introduced hatred and fear as national mantra..2. failed to protect our shores and people on 9/113. ignored Katrina victims, letting more than 1,000 Americans die4. created false wars, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands and injury of more than a million5. almost destroyed the U.S. and world economies

If American voters again hand them the keys, I will know I live among the dumbest sons of bitches on the planet.

Wow! Juan sure stirs it up. Good for him, and for all of you speculating on the coming Romnmania with passion and interest. Ain't democracy grand!

One thing Juan said struck me. Corporate America is sitting on a lot of cash.

Of course, it's not like Scrooge McDuck, where they have a swimming pool in the basement filled with gold coins. Most probably they are holding U.S.Bonds. Ironic, really. If there had been fair taxation over these last 20-30 years, all that "debt" would have been revenue and they would have paid tax bills instead of investing in "Treasuries".

All that aside, the question arises: Will they now let loose of their big load of dough and start an investment binge. It seems that the geniuses behind the Romneybot 2012 think so. They expect that all the increased DOD purchasing will cause the industrialists to invest in plants and equipment for the only industry left which can't be off-shored. I am skeptical of the strategy, but, who knows, cross your fingers, it might work.

Meanwhile, the suckers who aren't smart enough to work the death trade will have to eat cardboard, and if the 1%ers are lucky, they will die of stomach problems before the next election.

So let's just hope that HopeandChange wins this round and we don't have to get ulcers worrying about a Romnoid kakatopia.

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